Archive for May, 2014

Welcome to The Black List, your one stop shop for the stories published on the site this week.

SUNDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Metro Redux > The Metro franchise is coming to next gen, or current gen, or whatever we’re calling it these days. To clarify, publisher Deep Silver has announced that ‘remastered’ editions of both Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light are in the works for XBO, PS4 and PC. READ MORE

MONDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Hunger> While the Australian Government has withdrawn support for local game developers in the latest budget, it is a different story overseas. Tarsier Studios, best known for making content for Sony’s Little Big Planet, has earned a 67,000 Euro (approx. $100,000 AUS) grant from the Nordic Game Program for their newest concept ‘Hunger’. READ MORE

TUESDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Return of the Obra Dinn> Papers Please was an interesting indie hit created by Lucas Pope. It succeeded with what would seem from the outside as hardly an entertaining concept, playing as a customs officer in a fictitious country. Despite this boring sounding idea, Papers Please was lauded for its choice based gameplay. Because of this, players everywhere have been anticipating Pope’s next game and that game has just been announced. Prepare for the Return of Obra Dinn. READ MORE

WEDNESDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Battlefield Hardline> Perhaps recognising that some players are tiring of endlessly recycled international conflicts, publisher EA is trying something a little different with this year’s Battlefield release. The newly announced Battlefield Hardline will instead explore, in the words of its developer, “the war on crime and the battle between cops and criminals”. READ MORE

THURSDAY NEWS Steam Machines delayed> It looks like the latest offerings from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will be afforded a little more room to breathe before they face their next big challenge in the marketplace. Valve announced this week that it no longer expects the first wave of third party Steam Machines to land on shelves this year. “Realistically we’re now looking at a release window of 2015, not 2014,” wrote Valve’s Eric Pope. READ MORE

FRIDAY NEWS Mythic Entertainment closing down> Mythic Entertainment is joining Bullfrog, Westwood, Pandemic and many others in the glittering pantheon of studios purchased and subsequently closed by EA. The publisher provided Kotaku with a short statement confirming that the team responsible for Warhammer Online is being wound up. “We are closing the EA Mythic location in Fairfax, Virginia, as we concentrate mobile development in our other studio locations.” READ MORE

Mythic Entertainment is joining Bullfrog, Westwood, Pandemic and many others in the glittering pantheon of studios purchased and subsequently closed by EA. The publisher provided Kotaku with a short statement confirming that the team responsible for Warhammer Online is being wound up. “We are closing the EA Mythic location in Fairfax, Virginia, as we concentrate mobile development in our other studio locations.”

While it was remarkably prolific during the 1990s, Mythic is arguably best known for the pioneering role it played during the early years of the MMO explosion, and 2001’s Dark Age of Camelot remains its signature release. Mythic was acquired by EA in 2006, and endured multiple rebranding exercises as its parent company attempted to work out exactly where it sat in the corporate structure.

In recent years, the studio had been focusing its energies on mobile development. The last game to emerge from Mythic was the critically mauled Dungeon Keeper remake.

It looks like the latest offerings from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will be afforded a little more room to breathe before they face their next big challenge in the marketplace. Valve announced this week that it no longer expects the first wave of third party Steam Machines to land on shelves this year. “Realistically we’re now looking at a release window of 2015, not 2014,” wrote Valve’s Eric Pope.

The primary reason for the delay appears to be a desire to improve the daring new controller, which features touch pads in place of thumb sticks. “We’re now using wireless prototype controllers to conduct live playtests, with everyone from industry professionals to die-hard gamers to casual gamers. It’s generating a ton of useful feedback, and it means we’ll also be able to make the controller a lot better.”

It will be interesting to see if the first batch of Steam Machines really does shepherd a generation of PC gamers into the living room.

Much has changed, but Battlefield’s devotion to the colour orange remains strong.

Perhaps recognising that some players are tiring of endlessly recycled international conflicts, publisher EA is trying something a little different with this year’s Battlefield release. The newly announced Battlefield Hardline will instead explore, in the words of its developer, “the war on crime and the battle between cops and criminals”. While previous instalments have been produced by series originator DICE, EA is entrusting this spinoff to another internal studio, Dead Space developer Visceral Games.

Battlefield Hardine could prove to be a critical release for EA, and not only because of its change of setting. The most recent instalment in the series, last year’s Battlefield 4, was plagued with technical issues that lasted well beyond the launch window. Have these problems, which generated an avalanche of negative feedback from the player base, permanently damaged the brand, or will all be forgiven? We’ll find out in spring, when Battlefield Hardline is unleashed on (thus far) unspecified platforms.